Book of Common Prayer

³ I praise you, Lord!
I prayed, and you rescued me
    from my enemies.
⁴ Death had wrapped
    its ropes around me,
and I was almost swallowed
    by its flooding waters.

⁵ Ropes from the world
of the dead
    had coiled around me,
and death had set a trap
    in my path.
⁶ I was in terrible trouble
    when I called out to you,
but from your temple
you heard me
    and answered my prayer.

⁷ The earth shook and shivered,
and the mountains trembled
    down to their roots.
You were angry
⁸     and breathed out smoke.
Scorching heat and fiery flames
    spewed from your mouth.

⁹ You opened the heavens
    like curtains,
and you came down
with storm clouds
    under your feet.
¹⁰ You rode on the backs
    of flying creatures
and swooped down
    with the wind as wings.
¹¹ Darkness was your robe;
thunderclouds filled the sky,
    hiding you from sight.
¹² Hailstones and fiery coals
lit up the sky
    in front of you.

¹³ Lord Most High, your voice
    thundered from the heavens,
as hailstones and fiery coals
    poured down like rain.
¹⁴ You scattered your enemies
    with arrows of lightning.
¹⁵ You roared at the sea,
and its deepest channels
    could be seen.
You snorted,
and the earth shook
    to its foundations.

¹⁶ You reached down from heaven,
and you lifted me
    from deep in the ocean.
¹⁷ You rescued me from enemies,
who were hateful
    and too powerful for me.
¹⁸ On the day disaster struck,
they came and attacked,
    but you defended me.
¹⁹ When I was fenced in,
you freed and rescued me
    because you love me.

²⁰ You are good to me, Lord,
    because I do right,
and you reward me
    because I am innocent.
²¹ I do what you want
    and never turn to do evil.
²² I keep your laws in mind
and never look away
    from your teachings.
²³ I obey you completely
    and guard against sin.
²⁴ You have been good to me
    because I do right;
you have rewarded me
for being innocent
    by your standards.

²⁵ You are always loyal
    to your loyal people,
and you are faithful
    to the faithful.
²⁶ With all who are sincere,
    you are sincere,
but you treat the unfaithful
    as their deeds deserve.
²⁷ You rescue the humble,
but you put down all
    who are proud.

²⁸ You, the Lord God,
keep my lamp burning
    and turn darkness to light.
²⁹ You help me defeat armies
    and capture cities.

³⁰ Your way is perfect, Lord,
    and your word is correct.
You are a shield for those
    who run to you for help.
³¹ You alone are God!
    Only you are a mighty rock.^[c]
32 You give me strength
    and guide me right.
^33 (A) You make my feet run as fast
    as those of a deer,
and you help me stand
    on the mountains.

³⁴ You teach my hands to fight
and my arms to use
    a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You alone are my shield.
    Your right hand supports me,
and by coming to help me,
    you have made me famous.
³⁶ You clear the way for me,
    and now I won't stumble.

³⁷ I kept chasing my enemies,
until I caught them
    and destroyed them.
³⁸ I stuck my sword
    through my enemies,
and they were crushed
    under my feet.
³⁹ You helped me win victories,
and you forced my attackers
    to fall victim to me.

⁴⁰ You made my enemies run,
    and I killed them.
⁴¹ They cried out for help,
    but no one saved them;
they called out to you,
    but there was no answer.
⁴² I ground them to dust
    blown by the wind,
and I poured them out
    like mud in the streets.

⁴³ You rescued me
    from stubborn people,
and you made me the leader
of foreign nations,
    who are now my slaves.
⁴⁴ They obey and come crawling.
⁴⁵     They have lost all courage,
and from their fortresses,
    they come trembling.

⁴⁶ You are the living Lord!
    I will praise you.
You are a mighty rock.^[d]
I will honor you
    for keeping me safe.
⁴⁷ You took revenge for me,
and you put nations
    in my power.
⁴⁸ You protected me
    from violent enemies
and made me much greater
    than all of them.

^49 (B) I will praise you, Lord,
and I will honor you
    among the nations.
⁵⁰ You give glorious victories
    to your chosen king.
Your faithful love for David
and for his descendants
    will never end.

⁶ From the window of my house,
I once happened to see
⁷     some foolish young men.
⁸ It was late in the evening,
    sometime after dark.
⁹ One of these young men
    turned the corner
and was walking by the house
    of an unfaithful wife.
¹⁰ She was dressed fancy
like a woman of the street
    with only one thing in mind.
¹¹ She was one of those women
who are loud and restless
    and never stay at home,
¹² who walk street after street,
    waiting to trap a man.

¹³ She grabbed him and kissed him,
and with no sense of shame,
    she said:
¹⁴ “I had to offer a sacrifice,
and there is enough meat
    left over for a feast.
¹⁵ So I came looking for you,
    and here you are!
¹⁶ The sheets on my bed
are bright-colored cloth
    from Egypt.
¹⁷ And I have covered it
with perfume made of myrrh,
    aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸ “Let's go there
    and make love all night.
¹⁹ My husband is traveling,
    and he's far away.
²⁰ He took a lot of money along,
    and he won't be back home
before the middle
    of the month.”

²¹ And so, she tricked him
with all of her sweet talk
    and her flattery.
²² At once he followed her
like an ox on the way
    to be slaughtered,
or like a fool on the way
to be punished^[a]
23     and killed with arrows.
He was no more than a bird
    rushing into a trap,
without knowing
    it would cost him his life.

²⁴ My son, pay close attention
    to what I have said.
²⁵ Don't even think about
    that kind of woman
or let yourself be misled
    by someone like her.
²⁶ Such a woman has caused
the downfall and destruction
    of a lot of men.
²⁷ Her house is a one-way street
leading straight down
    to the world of the dead.